Bats Rendered Silent In Loss

Williamsport, P.A. – The Williamsport Crosscutters were held to a season-low two hits in their 4-1 loss to the Auburn Doubledays.

Manuel Silva had his day start off with a double to left-center off the bat of Gage Canning, but would rebound to strike out the next three batters he faced, to escape the 1st with a runner on 3rd base.

Silva was able to avoid allowing a run in the top of the 2nd inning, using his defense and his fourth strike out of the outing to strand a pair of Doubledays runners.

After Silva recorded his first clean inning of work in the top of the 3rd inning, picking up his fifth strike out and then getting a double play to work a scorless 4th inning, the Cutters were able to find the scoreboard in bottom of the 4th.

Keudy Bocio led off the inning with a bunt single against Auburn starter Francys Peguero, giving the Cutters just their second base runner of the ball game.

With Bocio on 3rd base after a Rafael Marchan single to right field, Alec Bohm grounded into a double play that erased Marchan but scored Bocio to give the Crosscutters a 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately for Williamsport, the hit by Marchan would be the final base hit they would get the rest of the night.

Auburn would respond in the top of the 5th inning against Silva, getting a bases-clearing two-out triple from Jacob Rhinesmith, scoring Cole Daily, Gage Canning and Jonathan Pryor to give the Doubledays a 3-1 lead.

Silva was relieved by Rafael Carvajal after the triple, finishing the night allowing three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out five Doubledays batters.

Carvajal worked a scoreless 6th inning, but Auburn would plate a run against him in the top of the 7th inning, as Canning raced home on a wild pitch to advance the Auburn lead to 4-1.

On the play, Carvajal and Canning had a small collision at the plate, but it left Carvajal feeling the full effects. The Cutters reliever was aided off the field by the training staff and replaced by Randy Alcantara.

Alcantara provided the Cutters with 2.1 innings of perfect relief, retiring all seven batters he faced on just 16 pitches as he utilized his defense for all seven outs.

Auburn’s bullpen retired the final 12 batters of the game, giving the Doubledays their first win against the Crosscutters in 2018.

The Crosscutters continue their series withthe Auburn Doubledays at BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field tomorrow evening. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Cutter Carvings – The one run was the second fewest runs scored by the Cutters this season… Randy Alcantara has not allowed a run in his first 10.2 innings of relief for Williamsport… Williamsport did not have a runner reach 2nd base after the 4th inning…